Elevator for feeding sheets of paper



N6 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. C. H. HEYWOOD.

ELEVATOR FOR FEEDING SHEETS OF PAPER.

Patented Apr. 20, 1897.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheeL 2.

C. H. HEYWOOD. ELEVATOR EOE FEEDING SHEETS OF PAPER.

No. 580,942. Patented Apr. 20, 1897.

1 91 was 00:) v01/ a5) NITE STATES CHARLES HENRY HEYVVOOD, OF MILWAUKEE,WISCONSIN.

ELEVATOR FOR FEEDING SHEETS OF PAPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 580,942, dated April20, 1897.

Application filed August 13, 1895. $erial'No. 559,188. (No model.)

To all whom it nuty concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES HENRY HEY- WOOD, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing in Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee andState of Wisconsin, have invented new and usefullmprovements inElevators for Feeding Sheets of Paper or other Material, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to a class of elevators in which the paper is fedto the machine continuously. As the paper is fed to the machine from offthe top of the stack the stack is add ed to by more paper placed beneathand raised up into contact with the stack above. In this way paper isfed from the top of stack without being interrupted when a new supply isbeing added to the stack.

Mechanisms have heretofore been devised for supplying paper to the underside of the stack, in which two platens or duplicate plates are usuallycombined, each designed to be 0perated independently of the other,butnone to my knowledge have been devised in which are combined a mainplaten with an arrangement of blades to be used only to support theremaining sheets of the stack during the time the fresh supply is beingplaced upon the platen. In other words, my device has practically oneplaten upon which the paper is at all times placed and materiallydiffers from other feeding mechanisms.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters and figures ofreference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a section on line a b,

Fig. 2, showing part of the table of the machine and the platen andretaining-blades in position. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of theelevator in operation, showing some paper in position to be fed to themachine, while the platen of the elevator is shown in dotted lineslowered in position to receive a new supply of paper. Fig. 3 is adetached view showing the manner-in which the blades are retained inposition when supporting the stack. Fig. 4 is a side elevation takenfrom the right of Fig. 1, illustrating the manner in which the upwardmotion may be given to the elevatorplaten byacam and lever. Fig. 5 is asection view of one of the elevator hand-wheels and shows it in positionon its shaft with the pawl resting upon the ratchet; and Fig. 6 is aside elevation of Fig. 5, with the hand wheels complete and all theparts thereon.

In'detail, A indicates the table; B and (J, sleeves; D and E, stands; Fand G, brackets; H, I, J, and K, gages, and L driving-shaft.

The construction is as follows: To the table A are attached the sleevesB and O to provide guides for the rods 1 and 2.

D and E are stands fastened upon the table A and supporting the shaft20.

F is a bracket in which a driving-shaft rotates.

G indicates a bracket'supporting lever 27.

H I J K are corner-gages, the two former fastened upon the table at thefront, while the two latter are supported at their lower ends upon anyconvenient portion of the machine.

In Fig. 1, 4 is the main platen from which the upper paper is fed to themachine. This platen is fastened upon rack-rod 2 by a pin 5. (Shown inFig. 2.) The construction of this platen is as follows: Extending fromthe hub fastened to the rounded lower end of the rackbar 2 by a pin 5 isan arm reaching up and supporting the platen at. platen is form ed withthree concentric grooves or channels 6 7 8, of such depth as to allowthe passage of the coinciding curved blades 17 18 19, which projecthorizontally from and have one end secured to the arm let. WVhen theseblades are in position, as shown in Fig. 1, the surfaces of the platenand blades are flush, forming a continuous surface for the support ofthe paper. The rack-rod 2, on which the platen is fastened, extendsupward through the sleeve 0, past the gear 36, and carries alaterally-projecting arm 3, pinned upon the top. Parallel with therack-rod 2 is a similar rack 1. This rack-rod 1 extends downthroughsleeve B and has arm 9 fastened thereto by pin 10, and thenthrough the arm 14, and has a nut 15 on the end, which holds the arm 14:in position. The top of the rod 1 passes through the free end of the arm3. This gives support to the rod 2 in such way that said rod-carryingplaten 4 may be raised or lowered and maintain its position beneath thepaper without other than vertical motion.

The arm 14:, carrying the blades 17 18 19, is arranged to swing outwardupon the rod 1,

The face of this and when swung out the blades 17 18 19 travel throughthe channels before referred to in platen -1. These channels are shownin dotted lines in Fig. 2. The arm 9, fastened on the rod 1, extendsacross with the hub 11, circling the rod 2, and its end supports the endof blade 18 and contains a pin 13, (see Fig. 3,) that retains the bladeand arm 1-1 in position. The arm 9 is so made that when the sleeve 11rests on the hub of the platen 4- the blades 17 18 18 are flush with theplaten 1. By this arrangement the blades of frame 11 can never get belowthe surface of the platen, but the platen may be lowered below theblades to any depth required, according to the length of the rack-rod 2.This will readily be understood upon reference to Fig. 2.

By rotating the wheels 38 38, that carry the gears 3U 36, the rack-rodsare raised and lowered, thus elevating or depressing the platen or thesupporting-blades. As arm 9 is firmly fastened to the rod 1, it isalways held in position and restrained from other than a verticalmovement by the sleeve 11 upon the rod 2.

Supported by standards D and E is the shaft 20, carrying ratchets 32 3221. These three ratchets are pinned to the shaft and rotate therewith.Ratchet 21 is prevented from rotating-backward by a pawl 22 on the screw2.3 and is held in position by aspring 2 This pawl prevents the backwardmovement of the shaft 20. The means for raising the paper upward as itis fed off the stack in the machine may be of any convenient form ofconstruction. I have illustrated one way it may be done, consisting ofthe lever 27, fulcrumed on stand G and carrying the camroll 28, rollingin contact with the cam 29 upon the shaft L. This lever carries a pawl21, which is termed a feeding-pawl, while the lever itself terminates inthe bent portion 31 and extends downward and over the paper. By theaction of this lever through the cam 2.), after the paper is raised tothe proper height, if the top sheets of the stack be removed, theportion 31 of the lever will be allowed to move to a lower position thanit would if the paper were there to prevent f urther downward movementof the lever. If the paper be removed and the lever move lower, the pawl21 will descend and take a tooth in the ratchet 21, and when forced upward by the cam 25) will elevate the platen and paper. A constant feedwith a train of spur-gears might be provided for feeding the platenupwardly.

The manner of raising the stack to keep the top alwaysin the same planeas sheets are fed off has nothing to do with my invention. I make noclaim on this part. The stack may be kept at proper height by theoperator or by any suitable mechanism in common use, one of which isillustrated herein.

In Fig. 6 the hand-wheel 38 is shown carryin g the connecting mechanism.The hand-wheels 38 38 turn freely upon the shaft 20 in one direction atall times. The hubs of the wheels are provided with the gears 36, whichengage racks 1 and 2, the wheels being arranged on a shaft 20, so thatthe racks are elevated by rotating the wheel in the proper direction. Asthis is done the pawl 10 on the screw 42 will travel around the ratchet32, the point actuated by spring 16 always dropping in a teeth of theratchet to maintain the platen in any desired position. Inside thewheels 38 38 are fastened rings 3 33. These rings are let into the wheeland retained in position by screws 3S). On the inner surface of theserings is a cam portion in which is cut a notch t3, the object of whichnotch is to retain the pawl 10 out of contact with the ratchet 32. \Vhenthe ring 33 shall have been rotated sufficiently for the notch to engagethe tail 11 of pawl 41), a step 4 5 upon the ring 33 will abut againstthe arm of the wheel 38 and arrest the motion of the ring. site side ofthe wheel-arm is another stop 11-, which acts as the ring is moved inthe opposite direction, as shown in the drawings. Projecting from theside of the ring 33 are pins 37. These pins are designed to be used ashandles for the turning oft-he ring 33. The two hand-wheels are exaetl yalike in all particulars, rotating freely by hand upon the shaft 20 in adirection to raise the platen and prevented from rotating backward bythe pawls 40, as described. As the ratchet 21 never moves backward, butis fed forward as fast as it is necessary, the wheels 38 are carried bythe ratehets I32 32 just as fast as the ratchet 2t is advanced. W hen itis necessary to lower the platen, the ring is shifted to throw the pawl40 out of engagement with the ratchet and the platen will descend. Asthe sleeve 11 of arm 9 rests upon the hub of the platen 1, and as thatplaten is raised and lowered, all mechanism for carrying the arm 11 withthe blades 17 18 19 will be raised and lowered with the platen,providing the pawl 10 is not in contact with the ratchet 32 forsupporting the rod 1. The right-hand wheel 38 rotates freely on theshaft 20 between ratchet 32 and stand D. Thelcfthand wheel 38 issupported on one side by ratchet 32 and a screw and washer 34: on theend of the shaft.

The elevator is supplied with paper as follows: The parts being in theirrespective positions, as shown in Fig. 2, and it being new desirable toadd more paper to the stack shown in this figure the pawl -10 for rod 1is dropped into engagement with the ratchet, thereby holding arm 11 andblades from downward movement, and the pawl 4E0, holding the rack-rod 2on the platen 1, is thrown out, thus allowing the platen & to descend toposition corresponding to that shown in Fig. 2 in dotted lines, the arm1% with the blades 17 18 19 now supporting the stack of paper, and asthere are buta few sheets thereon the strength of the blades issufficient. The supply of paperis now placed upon the platen t while inOn the oppoits lowered position. The pawl 40 is then thrown into contactwith the ratchet and the hand-wheel 38 revolved until the top of thestack is brought into contact with the under side of blades 17, 18, and19. Arm 14 is then swung outward, drawing the blades out from beneaththe stack resting upon them, thus allowing the upper stack to drop tothe lower stack, and the rod 1 is then lowered until the sleeve 11 onthe arm 9 rests upon the hub of the platen 4. The blades are then swunginto the channels 6 7 8 until blade 18 snaps over the pin 13, where itis retained in position.

Having, therefore, described my invention, What I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a platen formed withchannels means for raising and lowering the platen through guides byrack-gear and wheels or their equivalents, combined with one or moreblades fitting the channels in the platen and fastened to an arm orslide and arranged to swing in and out the platen-channels, and meansfor raising and lowering them through guides by rack-gear and wheels ortheir equivalent, all arranged substantially as shown and for thepurpose specified.

2. I11 an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a platen combined withone or more blades fastened on an arm substantially as shown andarranged to support a stack of paper while the platen is lowered toreceive a new supply, substantially as shown.

3. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a platen operated by arack in combination with an arm, carrying one or more blades operated byduplicate racks, substantially as shown and described.

4. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper,

the combination of a channeled platen combined with blades fitting thechannels and fastened on an arm, arm and platen being fastened tovertical racks, hand-wheel and gears, rotating on a shaft to raise andlower the platen and blades, all in combination with a ratchet and pawlon the shaft whereby the platen or blades may be retained-at any height,substantially as shown.

5. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a vertically-movableplaten to which the paper is supplied, an upright shaft movablevertically and rotatable on its axis, a lateral supported arm on saidshaft and one or more blades horizontally projected from the arm, incombination with vertically-movable rackbars, gears to engage therack-bars whereby the platen and blades may be lowered and raisedindependently of each other, pawls 32,

32, and ratchets 40, 40, to hold the platen and blades in any desiredposition.

6. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a compound platencomprising a platen havin g concentric channels across its face and anarm provided with blades to engage in the channels, a shaft havingratchets fastened thereon, held from rotating in one direction by apawl, one or more hand-wheels provided with gears and rotating freelyonsaid shaft and provided with pawls fastened thereon and rotating on theratchets so that the wheels may turn in one direction only 7. In anelevator for feeding sheets of paper, a feed-wheel rotating freelybeside a ratchet carried on a shaft, a pawl fastened on said wheel and ashifting device contained on said wheel and arranged to lift and holdthe pawl out of contact with the ratchet so that the wheel may be turnedin either direction to raise or lower racks attached to a compoundplaten, substantially as shown.

8. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, the combination of ashaft provided with one or more ratchets and a retaining-pawl andratchet whereby the shaft may be rotated in one direction only by beingcombined with suitable means for advancing the retainingratchet tooth bytooth, with one or more hand-wheels carrying pawls and throwing-outmeans, substantially as shown, located thereon beside the ratchets andhavinglgears meshing into racks for the purpose of raising a platen andsupporting-blades, whereby the platen and supporting-blades are movedupward every time the retaining-pawl is advanced a tooth, substantiallyas shown.

9. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, a platen formed withconcentrically-curved channels across its face, a horizontally-swingingarm provided with curved blades to fit in the channels of the platen andmeans to raise and lower the platen and arm with blades independently ofeach other.

10. In an elevator for feeding sheets of paper, avertically-reciprocating platen formed with concentric channels acrossits face, means to raise and to lower the platen, an arm adapted to beswung in a horizontal plane parallel with the plane of the platen andprovided with curved blades to fit the channels of the platen, means toraise and lower the arm with blades independently of the platen, andmeans to raise and lower the platen and blades in unison.

CHARLES HENRY I-IEYIVOOD.

Witnesses:

EDWARD BARBER, EDWARD B. BARBER.

